Neela Padmanabhan (b. 1938) is the author of 20 novels, 10 short story collections, 4 volumes of poetry and 7 essay collections in Tamil. In Malayalam, he has published a novel, four short story collections and a single essay collection. Besides Tamil and Malayalam, he also has a few English works to his credit. Many of his books are available in Indian and world languages, including German and Russian. In 2007, he was awarded the Sahitya Akademi Award for Tamil for his novel Ilai Uthir Kaalam. He had earlier won the Sahitya Akademi Translation Prize in 2003 for his translation of Ayyappa Paniker's Malayalam poetry collection, Ayyappa Panikkerude Krithikal into Tamil. Neela Padmanabhan is still involved in literary causes. He recently launched an endowment for giving awards to young poets and fiction writers, every year, Neela Padmam Thalaimuraigal through The Thiruvananthapuram Tamil Sangam. Neela Padmanabhan lives in Thiruvananthapuram.